Cronus' system: Against the gods

Jax stood before a large robot he had been working on, his hands clasped behind his back. He looked at the towering mechanical frame, which stood at least ten feet tall. Its sleek, metallic body was a work in progress, wires and exposed circuits running along the edges, waiting to be completed.

The young man who had just breezed through his tests was now standing beside him, looking at the robot with wide eyes.

Magnus was still riding high on the adrenaline of his earlier success, his grin never quite fading. But Jax wasn't smiling. Not yet.

He took a long, thoughtful breath, eyes narrowing as he considered the potential of this kid. Magnus had come in, a ragtag rookie with wild eyes and an over-inflated sense of confidence. But something about his raw talent had stood out.

The way he cracked the security firewall in under three minutes was impressive, but that wasn't what had really gotten Jax's attention.

No, it was Magnus' instincts while cracking it. "It felt so similar to the way my cyber eyes operate...almost like all of the components were laid bare before his eyes"

Jax's cyber eye allows him to interface with any digital system on a molecular level, seeing encrypted data streams as flowing, glowing lines of code that are invisible to the naked eye.

When he focuses on a target system, be it a security door, a computer terminal, or a network of surveillance cameras—his eye shifts into a new mode, revealing the structure of the device as if it were a 3D map of glowing data.

For this reason, he had been specifically picked by the previous head of the Voss family to work as the head of this tech department.

"For this reason, I'll personally take in this kid! He'll be my disciple"

Most kids would have been intimidated by the sheer scale of the robot, but Magnus hadn't hesitated. He'd approached the challenge with ease

"You've got talent, kid," Jax muttered under his breath, still eyeing Magnus out of the corner of his cybernetic eye. "But talent's nothing if you don't know how to push it."

"I'm not gonna hype him up lest he feels too overconfident"

Magnus blinked, his grin faltering slightly. "I'm not sure I follow."

Jax's gaze hardened. "You cracked the code like it was nothing. But that's the easy part. The real work is in turning tech into something... formidable. This robot could use an upgrade, one that'll push it past all the other machines in the department."

Magnus leaned in, curiosity piqued. "What do you have in mind?"

Jax didn't answer right away. Instead, he focused on the robot, his mechanical iris flicking as he accessed the control systems hidden inside the framework. His left hand hovered over a set of holographic controls, tapping into the robot's central processor.

Through his cybernetic vision, Jax saw the faint pulse of energy within the core, awaiting the spark that would bring it to life.

Then, with a single motion, Jax reached into the compartment beneath the robot's torso and pulled out a small, glowing crystal.

It was the size of a fist, but the energy contained within was unimaginable. A magical beast's crystal—the kind of power source only the top-tier hunters could afford. The kind of strength that could turn even the most basic of machines into a force to be reckoned with.

Jax's cyber-eye blinked, analyzing the crystal as he twisted it in his hand. It thrummed with energy, practically humming with potential. He knew exactly what he was going to do with it.

"You're going to see something special now," Jax said to Magnus as he inserted the crystal into the robot's core.

The glow from the crystal intensified, its light spilling into the robot's systems, sending sparks across the metal frame.

As the energy surged through the machinery, Jax tapped into his own cybernetic enhancements, overlaying the flow of magic and technology. Through his vision, he could see the interwoven circuits and magical runes, like veins running through the robot's body.

The robot's massive arms twitched as the magic-infused energy started to take hold. Jax's mechanical eye adjusted to allow him to track the movement in real-time, and he could feel the change happening, not just in the robot's frame, but in the air around them. The ambient temperature shifted slightly, the energy crackling with force.

"This," Jax said, his voice low, "is the true strength of a top advanced-level hunter." Experience more content on empire

Magnus's eyes widened as the robot's massive chest began to glow with the magic from the beast's crystal.

The lights around them flickered in response to the raw power now coursing through the system. The robot's eyes, once dim, now shone with an ominous, glowing red hue. It was as if the machine had come alive, a machine of pure, unrelenting power, ready for battle.

Jax stepped back, observing the robot's transformation. He could feel the strength radiating from it, more than any ordinary machine could ever possess.

Magnus took a step forward, clearly impressed. "That's... that's insane."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Jax chuckled darkly. "Yeah, it's a far cry from just some pile of gears and metal. This robot now has the power of a top-tier hunter. The same kind of strength it would take to bring down a top-tier monster or rival guild."

"Do you think it'll be enough?" Magnus asked, eyes still locked on the robot.

"No, not yet!" Jax raised his hands dismissively. "Watch this"

Jax's mechanical eye flared with intensity as he stepped forward, his fingers dancing across the holographic controls. The air around them seemed to hum with anticipation, crackling with the power he had just unleashed.

The robot's massive form loomed in front of them, its mechanical joints groaning, its systems overloading with the raw energy coursing through it.

"Not enough?!" Magnus scoffed, disbelief in his voice. "That's— that's insane! It's a monster!"

Jax's smirk twisted into something colder. "Monster? You've seen nothing yet, kid."

He tapped his eye once more, the iris glowing brighter as he activated a deeper function. The robot's systems, already powerful with the magic-infused beast crystal, began to hum louder, the temperature in the room rising rapidly. It was as if the air itself had thickened with the weight of the energy surging through the machine.

"You see, Magnus," Jax said, his voice growing colder, sharper. "My cybernetic eye doesn't just interface with data. It reads energy, too. The crystal's raw magical power? I can see it, tap into it, control it. But that's not all."

His eye flickered as the data streams coursed through it like an avalanche, connecting with the crystal's power as Jax focused in. The air around them shimmered as the temperature plummeted for a moment, then spiked again, a swirl of frost and heat battling for dominance.

The robot's metallic form began to twist, slowly but surely. Jax's eye tracked every shift in real time. "You see these veins of code?" he pointed to the holographic display, where the robot's internal systems now glowed with the combination of both magic and technology.

"They're like a map, each part of this machine is now woven with the magic from that crystal, but with the right adjustments, I can rewrite its function. I can give it power over things like ice."

Magnus's jaw clenched as he processed the words. "You're telling me you can give it control over ice?"

Jax's lips curled into a grin. "And now....."

Jax's eye flared brighter, and the room trembled. The temperature shifted again, a cold draft sweeping through the workshop, biting at the skin. Magnus felt it first, then the robot, its chest glowing more intensely now as icy blue light crackled from its core. The massive machine's arms trembled, its joints locking as if in preparation.

Then, without warning, the air around the robot began to freeze. The metal limbs, which had been thrumming with heat and power moments before, now glittered with frost. Ice crept along the floor, crawling up the walls, forming jagged spikes in the corners of the room.

"What the hell?" Magnus gasped, taking a step back, eyes wide.

Jax chuckled darkly, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "I told you. This—this is what you do when you know how to push limits. The crystal's power wasn't just for strength. With the right manipulation, I can give the machine control over the elements. In this case… ice."

The robot's newly frosted arms moved again, but this time, they were different. Its joints creaked as it swung its massive fist, not toward Magnus, but to the side, sending a blast of freezing air crashing into the wall. The ice expanded, forming sharp, dangerous spikes in mere seconds. The very air crackled with the cold energy, the frost spreading across the room like wildfire.

Jax turned to Magnus, his mechanical eye glowing intensely. "I'm not just a hacker, kid. I'm a creator. A manipulator of the very codes that shape the world." His gaze darkened. "And I'm about to make this thing unstoppable."

Magnus stood frozen, his face a mix of awe and disbelief. "How… how did you do that?"

Jax's grin deepened, his voice low and intense. "With my eyes, I can see the flow of energy, all of it—magical, technological, and everything in between. I can connect the dots where no one else can. And now, this robot? It's got more power than anything this department's ever seen."

The robot let out a low, metallic groan, its body vibrating with the elemental power coursing through it. The frost expanded rapidly, reaching every corner of the room. Jax stepped back, his hand trailing through the air as the magic began to stabilize. "Ice. It's the perfect element for this beast."

Magnus swallowed hard, his chest tight with awe. "This… this is insane, if you can convert the beast's crystal into any element you wish apart from it's original....will it also work on humans?"

The question hung in the air, tension swirling before Jax's reply came..."Yes"